Railway switch box



2 Sheets-Sheet l E. O. HUMPHREY RAILWAY SWITCH BOX Inventor Eugene 0. Humphrey Aug. 4, 1953 Filed sept. 21, 1949 Aug. 4, 1953 E. o. HUMPHREY RAILWAY SWITCH BOY Filed Sept. 2l, 1949 Im'entor Patented Aug. 4, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY SWITCH BOX Eugene 0. Humphrey, Salt Lake City, Utah Application September 21, 1949, Serial N0. 116,890

10 Claims. l y The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway switches and more particularly to a novel railway switch box and center switch lever construction for use with paved track switches where an open switch is not permitted.

An important object of the invention is to provide a center switch construction including a switch operating lever for swinging the switch points of a pair of rails from side to side in tight fitting engagement with the rails and which automatically locks the switch in either position.

A furtherobject is to construct a switch and switch box which may be reversed between the rails of ra switch so that the operator in manipulating the switch can face the traiic, if desired.

Another object is to provide a connecting rod extending inwardly from each switch point or tongue and a rockably supported vertical equalizer connecting the inner ends of the rods to each other and arranged to oppose independent movement of either switch point to thus positive- 1y hold the switch from accidental movement after being set in either position.

A further object is to provide ya novel construction for utilizing a padlock for locking the lever in either position.

A still further object is to provide an adjustable connecting rod for each switch joint to take up wear between the point and the rails.

Another object is to provide a device of this character of simple and practical construction, which is efficient and reliable in operation, strong and durablei relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purpose for` which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view with the cover of the switch box removed;

Figure 2 is a side elevational vview of the switch with one side of the switch box removed and with parts shown in section;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the equalizer for the connecting rods;

Figure- 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View of one of the rockable supports for the equalizer hanger and taken on aline 4--4 of Figure 2;,

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal v sectional View of the connection between one of the connecting rods and the switch point taken on a line 5"-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of the guide for the lever;

Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the hanger for the equalizer;

Figure 8 is a perspective View of the inner section of one of the connecting rods;

Figure 9 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the rockable supports for the hanger and provided with padlock locking eyes;

Figure l0 is a fragmentary side elevational View of the opposite hand grips for the lever;

Figure 11 is an enlarged fragmentary detail of the hinge for the lid of the switch box.V

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary view in plan illustrating the manner in which the padlock is applied to overlie the lever handle and hold it down.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 5 designates an elongated switch box composed of a pair of side walls 6 bolted at their ends to inwardly projecting webs l on the sides of an inner pair of guard rails 8 at a switch point to position the box transverselyA between the rails. The bottom of box 5 is open and the top is closed by a lid 9 which is vertically swingable on one of the side walls by hinge arms It pivoted on pins H welded to the side of box 5. A folding handie l2 is secured on top of lid 9.

A substantially U-shaped hanger I3 is positioned longitudinally in the box and in a transverse position with respect to the rails and provided at its upper end portions with openings adjacent the I4 for pvotally receiving horizontal pins l5 suitably connected at the upper ends of a pair of rockable supports I6 positioned at opposite sides of the hanger and at each end thereof. The lower ends of supports i6 are pivoted on J-shaped pins l1 having the straight ends of their shank portions l pivoted in recesses i9 in bearing brackets 2G suitably secured on the inner lower side of one of the side walls 6 and having their shanks curved or bil-l portions 2l pivoted in brackets Z2 suitably secured on the inner lower side of the other side wall t, the brackets 22 including seats 2li in which the bill portions 2l are locked by Cotter pins .24 or the like inserted through the brackets and overlying the shank portions of the pins l i as well as the bill portions 2i thereof, as shown in Figure 4. One of the supports it is provided at its upper side edges with eyes: 25, for a purpose more fully herein-` aitcrv explained.

of pin 23, both of said pins being in the plane` of the longitudinal axis of the lever. A nut or square shaped head is suitably held on pin 34 and is slidable vertically in a guide 36 suitably secured to the inner side of one of the side walls 6.

A pair of extensible connecting rods 31 of duplicate construction are positioned in longitudi' nal alignment in opposite ends of box 5, each rod including an inner rod 38 and lan outer rod 39 telescopically engaged with each other and secured in relative longitudinally adjusted position by a transverse opening 4l) in inner rod 38 and circumferentially staggered openings 4l in outer rod 39 selectively aligned with opening 40 to receive a transverse pin 42 preferably of shearable material locking the inner and outer rods in extensibly adjusted position and which protects the mechanism from damage.

Inner end of inner rod 38 is provided with an inclined bar 43 and is pivoted to one end of equalizer bar 32 while the other connecting rod 31 is similarly secured to the other end of the equalizer bar.

An internally threaded thimble 44 is Welded to the outer end of each outer rod 39 and is held against the inner sid-e of a swingable switch tongue or point 45 by a stud 4B threaded into the thimble and passing freely through an opening 41 in the switch point and with the head 48 of stud 46 bearing against the outer side of the switch point. The connecting rods 31 pass freely through an opening 49 in the respective rails 8.

In the operation of the switch, connecting rods 31 are attached at their outer ends to the horizontal swinging switch tongues or points 45 in the manner indicated, and the inner ends of the rods are attached to the upper and lower ends respectively of vertical equalizer 32. The equalizer is supported at the center of U-shaped hanger I3, which in turn is swingably supported at the upper ends of the upstanding rockable supports i6 for swinging the hanger from side to side between the guard rails 8.

Lever 29 being pivoted on the floating or vertically sliding pivot 34 and connected to the center of vertical equalizer 32 will swing the equalizer from side to side into a position at opposite sides or" pivot 34 upon a vertical swinging movement of the lever from its right hand position as shown in Figure 2 into an opposite or left hand position, to thus swing switch points or tongues 45 toward the right or left.

A padlock L may be attached to either of the eyes 25 at the upper end of one of the rockable supports i8 to overlie the lever handle 29 and lock it down.

Ey reference to Figure 12, it will be apparent that with the padlock L in position that the bail of the lock, or some part of the switch mechanism would have to be sheared in order to raise the handle lever 29.

As will now be appreciated, the switch tongue operating mechanism operates on pivotal connections only and eliminates all sliding connections and friction incident to such connections. The rockable supports I6 elevate the workingmechanism above the bottom of the switch box and keep it above any accumulating dirt, grease, water or ice which gets into the bottom of the box, to thus insure the effective operation of the switch. An additional advantage of the rockable supports is that the same imparts a downward motion to the lever handle 29. When an unlocked switch is trailed through, the downward pressure subjected to the handle prevents the handle from raising and being damaged by the movement of the passing car. When the switch is thrown, the top pins l5 in the rockable supports I6 or arms, describe an arc, the pins l5 carrying the U-shaped hanger bar i3 to which the bottom or lower pivotal connection of the lever is attached. Consequently, when the rockable supports IB are swung from either extreme position, they raise the end pivot 28 of the lever 29, which motion is reversed throug-h the lever fulcrum 34 and tends to press downwardly on the hand grip lever 38 thus preventing the lever from raising to a position where it would be bent or damaged by passing traffic, whether the switch happens to be locked or not.` This forces the strain to take place in the connecting rods 31 which is taken care of by easily replaceable adjusting and sheer pins 42.

The equalizer 32 is designed to impart an equal pressure to each switch tongue. By referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the switch points of the tongues are held in one positi-cn and employing the lever to move the switch points or tongues to an opposite position, should the friction and resistance of each tongue be equal, results in the equalizer remaining in a vertical position and both tongues being moved in unison. However, should either tongue through friction, move harder or should there be an obstruction to that movement, the equalizer will move the three points into position and will then impose all the pressure on the resisting point, which means that substantially more pressure will be put on this point than would otherwise be the case, and than is found in any other type of switch. The action of the equalizer will thus insure a safe facing movement of the wheels through the switch points. Trailing movements seldom cause a derailment, as the points are actually forced over to allow the anges to pass through the switch itself.

In View of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary. v

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

1. A railway switch comprising a pair of laterally spaced swingably mounted switch tongues, a switch box, means anchoring the switch box between` said tong-ues, an elongated horizontal hanger in said box, rockably mounted supports in said box attached to and suspending said hanger in the box for endwise movement bodily in suspended position, a pair of rods extending oppositely out of said box and connected to said tongues for endwise movement to swing said tongues, an equalizer member operatively connected to said rods to move the same upon movement of said equalizer member bodily, a pivot suspending said equalizer member on said hanger for movement bodily in suspended position therewith and swinging on said hanger to compensate for variable swinging of said tongues, and a hand lever pivotally connected to said box and to the pivot oi said equalizer member for moving said hanger and equalizer bodily.

2. A railway switch according to claim 1, said equalizer member comprising a vertical bar, said pivot suspending said bar between its ends, said rods being pivoted to opposite ends of the bar.

3. A railway switch according to claim 1, the pivotal connection of the lever to said box being slidable vertically for movement thereof past dead center relation to the pivot of said equalizer member to form av past dead center lock between said equalizer member and lever.

4. A railway switch according to claim 1, the pivotal connection of said lever to said box comprising a slide vertically movable on said box for movement of saidpivotal connection past dead center relation to the pivot of said equalizer member to form a past dead center lock between said equalizer member and lever.

5. A railway switch comprising a pairof laterally spaced swingably mounted switch tongues, a switch box, means anchoring the box between the pair of tongues, a substantially U-shaped horizontal hanger in the box, upstanding rockable supports in the box for suspending the hanger by its ends for movement in suspended position, J-shaped pivot pins for the lower ends of the supports, bearing brackets at the inner sides of the box for the pins and including seats for the bill portions of the pins, means locking the bill portions of the pins in said seats; a vertically swing-able lever pivoted to the hanger and box to move said hanger, and means connecting the hanger to the pair of switch tongues for swinging the same.

6. In a railway switch, a pair of swingable switch tongues, a vertically swingable lever pivotally mounted between the tongues,` a vertical horizontally shiftable equalizer connected to the lever and shiftable bodily, said equalizer having upper and lower ends, and connecting rods extending from the upper and lower ends of the equalizer to said tongues, said connecting rods comprising inner and outer telescoping sections having selectively registering openings at their telescoping ends and a fastener positioned in said openings to secure the sections of the rods in adjusted position relative to each other, anda stud threaded in the outer ends of said rods 4and passing through an adjacent switch tongue.

7. A railway switch comprising a pair of laterally spaced swingably mounted switch tongues, an elongated horizontal hanger between said tongues, rockably mounted supports attached to the ends of the hanger and suspending the same for endwise movement of the hanger bodily in suspended position, a pair of rods operatively connected to said tongues for movement to swing said tong-ues, an equalizer member operatively connected to said rods to move the same upon movement of said equalizer member bodily, a pivot suspending said equalizer member on said hanger for movement bodily in suspended position therewith and swinging on said hanger to compensate for variable swinging of said tongues, and a pivoted lever swingable in one direction and operatively connected to the pivot of said equalizer member for moving the hanger and equalizer member.

8. A railway switch according to claim 7, said equalizer member comprising a vertical bar, said pivot suspending said bar intermediate its ends, said equalizer member being operatively connected at opposite ends thereof to said rods.

9. A railway switch according to claim 7, and means slidably mounting the pivot of said lever for movement past dead center relation to the f' pivot of said equalizer member to form a dead center lock between member.

l0.v A railway switch according to claim 7, yand means carried by one of the rockable supports adapted for attaching a padlock thereto in a position opposing movement of said lever in the opposite direction.

EUGENE O'. HUMPHREY.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS said lever and equalizer Number Name Date 1,599,957 Evans Sept. 14, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 674,256 Germany Apr. 1'1, 1939 

